EFFECT OF AUDIT COMMITTEE ATTRIBUTES ON PROFITABILITY OF LISTED INDUSTRIAL GOODS FIRMS IN NIGERIA

This study investigates the effect of audit committee attributes on the profitability of listed industrial goods firms in Nigeria. The study adopted an ex post facto research design, utilizing secondary data collected from the audited financial statements of nine firms selected through a simple random sampling technique out of a population of 13 firms listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) from 2012 to 2021. Multiple regression analysis was employed to evaluate the relationship between profitability, measured by Return on Assets (ROA), and three audit committee attributes: size, independence, and meeting frequency. The findings reveal that audit committee size has a positive and significant effect on ROA, while independence has a positive but insignificant effect, and meeting frequency exhibits a negative and insignificant effect on profitability. The study concludes that effective audit committee attributes, particularly size, play a crucial role in enhancing the profitability of industrial goods firms. The study recommends that Industrial Goods firms should increase the size of their audit committee since it is related to firm performance. Furthermore, independent audit committee members should be well motivated so that they will not derail from their traditional roles of evaluating authenticity of financial reports prepared by management